Judge revokes Sowore’s bail amid recusal drama
By Ishaya Ibrahim
African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore says the judge presiding over his case has revoked his bail, days after he filed an application seeking the judge’s recusal.
The case in question concerned the comment he made against Tinubu which the Department of State Services (DSS) is prosecuting him for.
Sowore, in a post on X on Tuesday, stated that he appeared in court on Monday, but the presiding judge was absent, prompting his legal team to request a new hearing date.
According to Sowore, Tuesday’s agenda was to hear his application asking the judge to step down from the matter. Instead, he alleged, the judge “opted to revoke my bail in a bid to assert forceful control over the trial.”
“I will confront these developments with determination and resilience,” Sowore wrote. “This was all planned but it shall not prevail. The struggle continues!”
The presiding judge is Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court, Abuja. Sowore’s recusal application cites a March 16, 2026, incident in which Justice Umar ordered Sowore’s counsel, Marshall Abubakar, to leave the bar and kneel in court. The order followed what the judge described as Abubakar’s “high-pitched voice” during submissions on a hearing date. The judge has been widely criticised over the order.
